Save The Humans
by chimplady
Summary: Zira and Cornelius travel to Earth's future and find a world they never expected.


Save The Humans  
  
The spaceship entered Earth's atmosphere enveloped by a shield from another ship. The three occupants Zira, Cornelius and Dr Milo were wide- eyed as they watched the date on the ship's computer screen continuously increase then dissolve. The spaceship next to the ancient craft scanned them completely and then a female voice announced that their ship would be docking to a nearby spacestation. All three chimps looked around as if trying to figure out where the female voice was coming from. The shield disappeared and the three simians attempted to avoid panic as they heard banging noises of the craft fitting securely into the space dock. Zira nudged closer to Cornelius and he put his arm around her.  
When the door opened, they were greeted by a security team of four chimps in silver uniforms led by a female who spoke with authority. "Time travelers are welcomed guests. Please forgive the shield. We have to be careful due to our previous encounters with hostile aliens, although it has been sometime since we have been at war." Cornelius moved forward cautiously and made eye contact with the leader. "We are headed for Earth." The female chimp smiled at him. "You have arrived. This is Simian Colony 202. All visitors to Earth must enter here first for clearance and then are transported to the planet below. Welcome. After you receive medical clearance you can head to the computer archives to catch up on history or go off to wherever you want. We do not feel you are a security risk, so you will be free to go. Any particular destination?" Dr Milo finally got up the courage to speak. "We are from Earth's distant past." "You are from the very distant past. Your ship is an ancient relic." The female chimp was forcing herself not to smile. "I highly recommend you catch up by reading the historical databases in the archives."  
All three chimps were escorted to a medical clinic not far from the docking bay. A male gorilla scanned them with what looked like a tiny computer. Finding no viruses or deadly diseases he directed them to a nearby café for a meal. Artificial intelligence in all shapes and sizes waited on customers and a tall, thin simian looking droid glided over to the three newcomers. All three chimps tried not to remain in shock and just stare. With bowls of fruit salad placed in front of them and a variety of languages being heard, they tried to digest it all. Cornelius sipped some tea. "We are way in the future. Obviously Earth wasn't completely destroyed. Someone survived." Zira put a piece of melon in her mouth and continued to take in her surroundings. "We were suppose to go to the past, not the future." Dr Milo wasn't touching his food. "It must have been that ion storm we went through or the supernova we witnessed or maybe.".Zira cut him off. "It doesn't matter now. We travelled forward instead of backwards. Earth is still here and so far it looks like it is ruled by simians.  
  
The simian shaped droid returned with another pot of tea when a male orangutan appeared, pulled out a chair and sat next to Cornelius. "Hablas Espanol?" Zira and the other two just looked confused. The orangutan pushed a button on his watch and attempted to communicate again. "Can you understand me now?" The eyes of all three chimps grew wide as the orangutan continued to talk. " I actually remembered the universal translator this time. Do you speak English?" Cornelius stared at the watch while Zira was anxious to talk. "That is our native language but we are very confused and stunned by all this. Shocked is probably a more adequate description." The orangutan smiled. "Naturally. You are a long way from your time period." Dr Milo Finally started to eat, very slowly. " We had hoped to return to Earth's past but ended up in the future instead. What really amazes us is the survival of our species. We thought Earth was completely destroyed." The orangutan listened intensely but kept smiling. "Oh there were some survivors, the bomb didn't destroy everything or everyone. By the way, my name is Einstein and I am an astronomer by profession but studying ancient Earth history is one of my hobbies. Your era is of great interest to me. We know very little about that particular time period when the bomb was detonated." Zira spoke again. "How far ahead are we in Earth's history?" "My best estimate is about five thousand years, although I am not entirely certain of that." "Apes rule the planet?" "Of course!" Einstein laughed. "Primates and others are prevalent on Earth. The last two hundred years a variety of alien species have also settled here. But primates mostly dominate this section of the galaxy."  
The three chimps finally began to relax a little. Einstein continued talking to them. "What are your plans?" Cornelius was quick to respond. "We don't really have any plans, we expected to land on a world ruled by humans." He put part of a banana in his mouth. Einsteins' face became serious and he straightened up a little in his seat. "Why humans?" Zira jumped right in with an answer. "They once ruled this planet long ago, I studied them extensively and experimented on them. We kept them in cages." Einstein's face was now stern and his voice sounded like he was going to give a lecture. "We don't have much information on the "age of humans". There was emotion in his voice. "Humans are an endangered species. There are only a few groups of them left. Any harm done to a human can bring a long jail term with a considerable fine. I warn you, no one wants to end up in a movie abusing humans."  
The three chimps stopped eating and gave the orangutan their full attention. Cornelius reassured the astronomer. "We intend no harm towards humans. My wife and I protected humans". "Great!" Einstein softened his demeanor. "Maybe you can help us save them by sharing your knowledge with us." We have several human reserves where they are protected. Our animal behaviorists observe them and record their daily activities. Some communicate with sign language expressing their needs and many show a talent for the arts. Human paintings have brought in quite high prices at auctions. The money goes to the reserves. In a way they are self-supporting." Zira had many questions but tried to remain selective in what she said due to the obvious fondness their new companion had for humans. "Can we see these humans?" "Usually only graduate students outside of the scientists have access to their living areas but one reserve in Hawaii allows tourists in for an exorbitant admission price. Reservations must be made far in advance and you would have to go through another medical clearance." "Looks like my wife ended up in the right time period!" Cornelius patted his wife's hand. "I am willing to help ensuring the survival of humans. It is my profession, the study of humans." "It is noble of you to choose to help our humans but it is a hard profession to get into. Usually only graduates of Ivy Leagues schools and other priviledged apes work with humans but with your background and being a time traveller from an era when humans were more plentiful maybe in your favor."  
Zira, Cornelius and Dr Milo continued their conversation with Einstein for quite sometime. All four apes left the restaurant together and Einstein offered the use of his suite until they could find their own living quarters. Dr Milo, still curious as to how they travelled forward in time,decided to remain on Simian Station 202 to study astronomy. Cornelius was determined to pursue his chosen field of archaeology. And Zira of course, mapped out a plan of action on how she could be involved in "Saving the Humans."  
Zira and Cornelius were anxious to get going with their lives. Zira being pregnant, could only think of the different world her baby would grow up in. Space travel and advanced technology would come naturally to her child,whereas to Cornelius and herself it would take some time to get use to. Naturally Cornelius planned on continuing his profession as an archaeologist. In fact, on the way from the restaurant to Einstein's suite, Cornelius stopped dead in his tracks when he saw an advertisement for a museum of ancient history. On the picture was the human doll Taylor found in the dig that Dr Zaius ordered destroyed. Cornelius was stunned and he grabbed Zira's arm. "Zira, look at this!" Zira stepped closer to the picture. The doll appeared to have been restored, with only a slight crack on the face and she had long blonde hair. Cornelius was getting excited. "You remember that doll?" "Yes, dear, but we are very tired. We don't really know if it is the same one and do you recognize any of the other artifacts in the picture?" Cornelius held her hand. "I would know that doll anywhere. I don't have a clue as to what these other items are but I would recognize that doll anywhere." The poster was an advertisement for a museum of ancient history in what was once New York. Cornelius took a pamphlet from a box in front of the poster. A picture of the doll was even on the pamphlet. He definitely planned on contacting the museum.  
Even though the two chimps were anxious to move to Earth,this wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Ideally, they wanted to be near the museum where Cornelius could pursue his field of archaeology and be on the staff. But that area of the country was expensive to live in and the museum currently didn't have any openings. They also requested that Cornelius obtain a current degree in archaeology because dating methods and methods of reconstructing past civilizations had changed. Both Zira and Cornelius were disappointed with not getting to Earth sooner but they would have to remain with Einstein until they could save up enough money to move. Zira also desperately wanted to work with humans but she knew that was a long way off. With the baby on the way,they had to get settled. Fortunately, Zira being a veterinarian was able to obtain a job as an assistant on the station's animal hospital. She could work under another vet's license until she passed the current license boards. This would involve taking courses because vet medicine had changed since Zira practiced in her time period. The hospital treated many alien species of animals Zira never heard of. It would be a challenging endeavor. Even stranger than all the alien species was that all the vets on staff were gorillas. Most of Zira's previous colleagues were chimps. Now gorillas appeared to be mostly intellectuals, artists, and in the helping professions. Orangutans seemed to be the ones passionate about saving humans. All Zira could think of was Dr Zaius turning over in his grave if he saw this world. Chimps were in all professions but had a military stronghold. And all three species of gorillas,chimps and orangutans had female military leaders. It was so wacky to Zira. And the gibbons. These were a smaller specie of ape, not known to Zira or Cornelius. They appeared to be the rising stars of ape civilization with many recent accomplishments in various fields. Even stranger was the amount of aliens on the station.  
Zira found the aliens in the next suite becoming her best friends. She couldn't quite figure out what they were, they looked like some sort of hairy lizard. Despite their strange appearance, Zira and Cornelius became close to them, sharing meals and just talking. These aliens were actually very interested in humans. They had close human friends on their home world who had perished in a space shuttle accident and were still grieving their loss. Like the two chimps, the lizards felt out of place in this strange universe and were attempting to adjust. The lizard suite became a place of comfort for Zira and Cornelius.. Many apes listened to Zira and Cornelius talk about the time period they came from, but others couldn't care less. Time travellers were a frequent entity and not something out of the ordinary here. The two chimps were grateful for their alien neighbors.  
Zira gave birth to a boy whom they named Caesar. She continued to work at the animal hospital while Cornelius took care of the baby and took correspondence courses in archaeology. He also maintained contact with other achaeologists via email on the computer. While Caesar was napping one day,Cornelius received an email from a gibbon named Iona. She claimed she had a record of his archaeological findings which she had inherited from her great grandfather who was a relic hunter. Cornelius almost fell off of his chair he was so excited. He responded to her email and things got even better. She happened to be a benefactor of the human reserve in Hawaii and requested that the chimps meet her there and she would give Cornelius his journal. Cornelius was jumping up and down when Zira came in the door. Zira had to sit down,she felt faint when she heard the news, The dream of getting near humans seemed like such a remote possibility at times. Zira was fanning herself. "How are we going to get there and what about the baby?" "Dr Milo and our neighbors will watch Caesar. He'll be in good hands." "Who is this Iona?" "She is some kind of artist, lives in a place called Florida. She shares our interest in humans and is very involved with this reserve. She is also willing to give my journal back to me." Zira listened intently. "Just out of curiosity, what kind of ape is she?" "A gibbon. It will be interesting to get to know a species of ape we are not familiar with. Zira gave out a sigh. "That's all I do is meet new species, but if she can get us near humans, I am willing."  
The lizard neighbors were more than happy to take care of Caesar for a couple of days, they felt it was good for the two chimps to get away. Cornelius and Zira boarded a shuttle full of apes and aliens and headed for Hawaii. Iona met them at the landing site and both chimps were shocked at how tiny she was. Obviously she had money, wearing diamonds and refering to her great grandfather as great granddaddy. She handed over to Cornelius his journal which was well sealed in a glass case. Cornelius thanked her profusely while Zira inquired about the reserve. Iona motioned them both into a limo which also had a gibbon driver. They would spend the night at her condo,then head out to the reserve the next day. That night both chimps tossed and turned in bed. Finally they were going to see humans. They would be going as tourists, not what they really wanted but it was a start. They were also a little uncomfortable with Iona and staying with her, but they had no other choice.  
The next morning Iona gave them vouchers after breakfast to get into the reserve and she called someone to verify who the chimps were. The limo dropped them off at the entrance where two gorilla security guards searched both chimps and a third one scanned them for diseases with some sort of medical scanning device. The whole area was guarded by gorilla soldiers which was totally strange to the two chimps. They were use to gorillas slaughtering humans, not protecting them. Then they were escorted to a shuttlebus with other tourists and driven around the reserve for about an hour. A female orangutan gave a talk during the tour. She stated mostly facts about humans which Zira already had knowledge of. In fact, Zira felt like grabbing the microphone from her and giving the audience a better lecture but she kept quiet. They drove past a village of thatched huts populated by humans of all races and ages. One elderly male human waved at the bus. Zira kind of felt like a fool, her and Cornelius didn't say a word the whole time they were on the bus. After the village, the shuttle drove by a large flower garden tended by a young girl who smiled and said something in sign language towards the bus. At the end of the tour the bus parked at a gift shop with a huge help wanted sign posted above the various credit cards the place accepted. A chimp couple sitting behind Zira and Cornelius began to argue. The male started. "This was a crock! I told you I wanted to go golfing!" The female replied with only "Shut up!" Zira burst into tears and sobbed softly. Cornelius put his arm around her but didn't say anything. They walked quickly through the gift shop and outside to the limo which was waiting for them. Once inside the limo Zira continued crying but started to talk. "When we arrived here with Dr Milo, I was so scared we would be killed by humans who would see us as a threat but instead... she blew her nose, I sometimes feel like I am in the middle of a big freak show." I miss our humans and our colleagues. I almost wish we didn't come." The gibbon driver spoke. " I go to a great therapist, I can give you his number." Cornelius responded sharply to him. "No thanks!" "We'll return to the station and continue with our plans." "This has all been too much, new world, new baby, technology that is very strange to us.. We are in a world we never expected to be in." The driver spoke again. "My therapist is great with adjustment issues." Cornelius had a frown on his face. "Just take us to the condo".  
When the two chimps returned to the space station, Einstein was waiting for them in the suite. He greeted them enthusiasticly and was full of questions. "How was the trip? How many humans did you see? It's a beautiful place isn't it?" Cornelius cut him off. "It's not what we expected. We studied humans in a scientific environment, we are not use to being tourists." Einstein's tone became seroius. "That reserve is not exactly what it seems to be. Next time Iona will let you in, not as tourists. She needed to meet you first and get to know you." Zira was surprised. "You know Iona?" "For sometime now. She is from a very wealthy family who is dedicated to saving the humans. Just as I am."  
Zira and Cornelius went to their neighbor's suite to pick up Caesar. The lizards could see they were upset so they gave them each a cup of tea and listened to them recount their recent experiences. They encouraged the two chimps to continue to pursue their chosen and fields and not give up hope of dedicating their lives to saving the humans. 


End file.
